More than a healing kiss in The Druid Knight Tales #FREE by @RuthACasie #MedievalMonday

Today on The Maze, I am pleased to welcome back Ruth A. Casie and her FREE short story The Druid Knight Tales as Medieval Monday shifts to the theme of the first kiss of the hero and heroine.

For you Galavant fans, I can assure you that this kiss is neither musty nor too moist. :D

Excerpt:
“Aye,” he said sleepily, followed by a soft snore.

She wiped the blood from the scratches on his cheek and studied him.

Full brows framed his wide-set eyes with long, thick lashes. His high cheekbones accentuated the deep hollows beneath them. His close-clipped beard outlined his full lips. His face spoke of power and ageless strength. He had a face that was easy to look at.

The wounds cleaned and bandaged, she bent over and gave him a lingering kiss on his forehead. Her head snapped up and her fingers went to her lips. They tingled as if she had eaten something spicy. She searched his face. His ashen color hadn’t changed. Panic welled in her throat. Her healing kiss always brought results.

His arm snaked around her and drew her to him. She didn’t resist when he pulled her closer and kissed her deeply. When she moved away his eyes were closed, the corners of his mouth tipped up in a smile, and his face took on a soft pink hue.

Relief flooded through her but was quickly replaced with doubt. For the first time she wondered if her healing kiss would be enough.

She prepared the camp and when she was done, sat back to rest. The smell of the wood and the snap of the fire were soothing. The dancing flames mesmerized her and drew her in deeper. The intertwined flames parted and in its midst she saw two figures following a light. She knew it was an omen but she could not tell if the sign was good or bad. A loud snap and a log fell, sending sparks flying, startling her out of her trance.

Synopsis:
After a year of searching, Maximilian, the druid Grand Master, finds the sacred mistletoe destined for his soul mate shriveled and dead. He must journey to the Otherworld and tell the Ancestors of his failure.

Ellyn of Brodgar is an exceptional healer. But each healing kiss depletes her energy and brings her closer to death. Ellyn needs to find her own healing power before it’s too late.

Max and Ellyn are tossed into the Otherworld and have until the third sunset to appeal to the Ancestors or be lost forever. Together they find love, and as the last rays of the third sunset slip away, both are willing to sacrifice their hopes, dreams, and lives for the other. Do they have what it takes to escape the Otherworld and begin their life together?

Buy links:  Amazon | iBooks | Kobo |

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Did lust rob Gawain of strength? Ch 9/Sc 1d of RAGING SEA by @KimHeadlee #amwriting

Graphic overlay (c)2015 by Kim Headlee.

Welcome back to Saturday excerpts from Raging Sea! I hope you enjoyed a pleasant holiday season and are ready to tackle the new year head-on. I know I am. :) 

To catch up with the early doings of Angusel, Gawain, and everyone else, I invite you to download a copy of Raging Sea: Reckonings, which is free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription or Amazon Prime membership.

In today's excerpt, Morghe (aka Morgan le Fay) begins to show why in later centuries she was dubbed "Morgan the Wise."

Previous excerpts of Raging Sea 
Chapters 1–6 in Raging Sea: Reckonings

 Chapter 7: Sc 1 | Sc 2 | Sc 3 | Sc 4 | Sc 5a | Sc 5b |
Chapter 8: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 9: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c |

Raging Sea Chapter 9, Scene 1d

©2016 by Kim Headlee

All rights reserved.

“Chieftain Urien, you and all your guests be witness to this heinous assault upon me innocent lady wife,” Fergus stated. “I demand his head.”

“No!” shouted Gyan and Morghe together, and they shared a look.

“No,” Morghe repeated at Gyan’s nod. “This action is so very unlike my nephew’s normal behavior that it deserves further investigation before just punishment can be meted out.” She smiled at Urien. “With my lord husband’s permission?”

“What do you propose, my lady wife?” Urien asked.

She navigated from behind the table to approach Gawain and proceeded to feel his forehead and neck. With gentle fingertips, she probed the spot on his jaw where Fergus had struck him, and he couldn’t stop the wince. His knees still felt like jelly. He locked them to prevent them from betraying him. She ordered the Scotti warriors to release Gawain and step back. Once they complied with a nod from their lord, she bade Gawain to raise one arm parallel with the floor. The tremors that shook his hand alarmed him, and he clenched his fist, despising the display of weakness. Morghe gave him a sympathetic smile and faced Urien.

“Gawain has a fever and—”

“Aye, the fever bred of lust,” Fergus muttered, hugging his wife to him.

Morghe shot him an annoyed look. “When was the last time lust robbed you of strength, my lord Fergus?” When that netted no answer but a glare, she addressed Urien. “Clearly, something he ate or drank put him into this state and made him lose control over his baser urges. I propose—”

“’Twas your selfsame cup he drank from!” shrieked Caitleen.

“Indeed. Perhaps traditions are different among your people. I am not in the habit of poisoning my blood kin.” Gawain couldn’t figure out why a look of discomfiture flashed across Urien’s face at that, but his head was aching too much to expend anymore thought on the matter. “Furthermore,” Morghe continued, “what reason could I possibly possess to disrupt my own festivities in this deplorable manner?”

“I do hope, Chieftainess Morghe, that ye are not suggesting that me wife did anything to bring this upon herself. That would be most unfortunate to our new alliance.”

Urien rose from his tall-backed chair. “No one is suggesting anything of the kind, Lord Fergus. Neither is anyone denying the harm done to your lovely lady wife. What may appease you, other than Gawain’s death?”

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Name Your Poison: Wolfbane by @Liza0Connor Victorian #murdermystery and #giveaway

Characters in many of my books are accomplished herbalists, which includes knowing how to prepare and administer poisons. I employ creative ways to keep those details vague, even though I could impart the information, mainly because I'd rather not make it easy on anyone wanting to, say, do away with an annoying spouse.

My author-friend Liza O'Connor, whose latest release is the Sherlock-esque The Darkest Days, is a lot braver than I am. :D

Until the twentieth century, Wolfbane (aka Aconite, Monkshood) was the deadliest poison known. And there is still no antidote even now.

To kill someone in eight minutes you need to drop the crystalized form into alcohol and get the person you clearly do not like to drink it. The trick is to not to let the person throw up, which their body will try to do.

I have an entire blog on what will happen next, and it’s pretty gruesome. http://www.lizaoconnor.com/2014/11/name-your-poison-how-about-aconite.html

Wolfbane, aka Monkshood and Aconite.

Fortunately for Barns, he only got the powder (made from the root and leaves) on his hand, which Xavier quickly washed, thus, while weakened presently, he’ll make a full recovery.

The Darkest Days by Liza O'Connor

Synopsis

When the pot has too many cooks a feast can be ruined, and that’s exactly what happens with Xavier and Vic’s new cases. Each proves more complicated than initially thought with criminals dropping out of the sky, wreaking havoc upon Xavier, Vic, and their excellent employees. By the end, Vic threatens to open a school that teaches criminals how to stay out of each other’s way.

Worse yet, a treasured member of the staff is shot in the heart while attempting to save Vic and the Queen’s cousin.

Once Tubs verified the hall clear of any other problems, he approached the housekeeper. “I got this.” He focused on the woman. “You don’t have to die tonight,” he said softly. “Just face the wall and put your hands behind your back.”

“You stay away from me or I’m calling the police,” she warned.

Tubs stepped forward, causing her to back away from Barn’s body. He reached down and felt Barns’ neck, never taking his eyes off her. “He’s still alive, but his pulse is weak.”

“I didn’t touch the boy,” the housekeeper insisted. “He was like that when I opened the door.”

“Tubs, you secure the housekeeper. I’ll tend to Barns.”

Tubs shifted his position so he stood between Vic and the woman easing towards the front door.

Vic had every confidence Tubs would not let the woman escape, so she focused on Barns. The boy showed no sign of bleeding, but Tubs was right, his heart was weakening. The moment the woman broke for the door, Tubs slammed her against it, wrenching both arms behind her back and securing them with handcuffs, He then searched her for weapons, finding nothing. He pulled a handkerchief from her apron pocket. He smelled it then pressed it to the woman’s nose. “What is this?”

The woman struggled to pull away from the cloth. “I don’t know what that is. I’ve never seen it before. You must have put it in my pocket.”

Vic grabbed her cuffed hands and jabbed a prick underneath a fingernail. The woman fell to her knees as she howled in pain. “What did you give him?” Vic yelled over her howls.

“Wolfbane,” she cried.

Vic withdrew the prick. “If he dies, I’ll torture you for weeks,” she warned.

I don't "monetize" my blog by displaying ads,
but I do include Amazon affiliate links.
Thanks for your patronage! :)

The Darkest Days

Book 6
Free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited

Need to catch up?

Book 1
The Troublesome Apprentice
The greatest sleuth in Victorian England hires a young man
who turns out to be a young woman.

Book 2
The Missing Partner
Opps! The greatest sleuth in Victorian England goes missing,
leaving Vic to rescue him, a suffragette, and about 100 servants.
Not to mention an eviscerating cat.
Yes, let’s not mention the cat.

Book 2.5
A Right to Love
A romantic detour for Jacko.
Want to see how amply rewarded Jacko was when he & Vic
save an old woman from Bedlam?

Book 3
The Mesmerist
The Mesmerist can control people from afar and make them murder for her. Worse yet, Xavier Thorn has fallen under her spell.

Book 4
Well Kept Secrets
The problems with secrets is that they always come to light,
no matter how you wish to silence them.

Book 5
Pack of Trouble
Changes are a part of life, but these changes almost kill Vic.

All Xavier & Vic books are Free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited

Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats, left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast. There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street, while her psychotic husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell in love with her new life where people behaved nicely. But all those bad behaviors has given her lots of fodder for her humorous books. Please buy these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels instead. They will likely traumatize you.

You have been warned.

More mostly humorous books by Liza:

Ghost Lover—Two British brothers fall in love with the same young woman. Ancestral ghost is called in to fix the situation. And there’s a ghost cat that roams about the book as well. (Humorous Contemporary Romance)

Saving Casey—Cass wakes up in the body of a troubled teen who has burned every bridge imaginable. Her only choice is to turn this life around, but that’s much harder than she ever imagined.

Untamed & Unabashed—The youngest of the Bennet sisters, Lydia, tells her story. A faithful spinoff from Pride & Prejudice.

A Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary odd Romance)

Worst Week Ever — Laugh out loud week of disasters of Epic proportions.

Oh Stupid Heart — The heart wants what it wants, even if it’s impossible.

Coming to Reason — There is a breaking point when even a saint comes to reason.

Climbing out of Hell — The reconstruction of a terrible man into a great one.

The Hardest Love — Is to love oneself. Sam’s story.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

LIZA O'CONNOR

Investigate these sites:

Liza's Blog and Website | Facebook | Twitter |

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All this month, you are invited to...
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... and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books. Please enter often, and good luck!

The Business of Writing: Structure of the Author Blog with @kayelleallen and #giveaway

Image c2015 by zzoplanet
Depositphotos  ID 86051516.

Welcome to 2016, and welcome back to The Business of Writing on The Maze!

The new year being all about fresh starts, I decided to make my first Business of Writing post of 2016 focus on the Author Blog—mainly as a prod for me to do some sprucing up of The Maze. I am so not in the habit of rearranging furniture in my home, but I do hope that you like what I've done with this place. :)

I became a published novelist with the sale of my first manuscript, Dawnflight, to Simon & Schuster in 1997, when the Internet was taking its first baby steps, long before social media in general and blogging specifically was a gleam in anybody's eye. When blogging started to become A Thing, my writing career was in hiatus.

"Why bother blogging?" I asked myself. Lacking a sufficient answer, I did not bother to begin a blog in those days.

Kayelle Allen, founder of Marketing for Romance Writers (MFRW), offers a great take on that question:

A blog is a way of having fresh content on your website every day. How often can you release a new book? Probably not often enough to get people to come back to your website on a regular basis. Blogging brings people, and can generate followers for your blog, and for your social media.

Ask yourself—so what? 

Why does that matter? Because those people who come back are people who have heard of you. When people buy books, they buy books that interest them, and they buy books by authors they know. They've learned that the author will give them a good read. Name recognition in this business is a major key to success.

Read the rest of Kayelle's excellent article here.

In mathematical terms, the average fiction reader will not take a chance on a novel until she or he has heard mention of the author at least SEVEN times. An author blog is an excellent way to help improve those odds… providing the author follows some basic advice about blog structure and content.

Blog Structure

Blog structure includes the platform, layout, and elements included with each page or post.

Blogging Platform

If you haven't yet established a blog, the first decision you'll face is which blogging platform to use. The two major players are Blogger and WordPress.

I picked Blogger in 2013 because it's free and easy, with "free" being the more important consideration since I have been a native HTML coder for decades and already had a static web site. Where Blogger makes things easy for me is in the post-publishing process, since my static site required use of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) software to perform uploads whenever I wanted to tweak a page. This functionality is built in to Blogger (and WordPress), so that's one less tool I have to worry about.

Then I started hearing about WordPress and how those sites look more "professional" and so forth. For a while, I considered running both a Blogger and a WordPress blog, but I have since abandoned that plan.

Why?

Mainly because I get the distinct impression that the free version of WordPress will not support my needs as an author-blogger. One of the best (and also free) blog-marketing tools I've discovered in the past 12 months is Triberr—the post-sharing service that increased my blog reach one hundredfold within the first few months of my membership there—and I often hear bloggers grumble about how difficult it is to get their WordPress blogs set up to feed the Triberr stream. And even when those bloggers do get their WordPress posts to show up in the feed, there are issues about the display of images and content.

I don't have time to wrestle with technological issues like that, and I am not interested in paying WordPress to solve those issues for me when Blogger already does what I need for free.

Blog Layout

There are just about as many ways to layout a blog as there are bloggers on the planet. Because my list of published novels is only six at present, I have elected to devote one static page to each, plus a page for my personal appearances.

If you are fortunate enough to have ten or more books in print, and still want to set up static pages, you might choose to organize your books by series or genre to maintain a manageable page count.

The whole point to a blog's layout is to present pertinent information without overwhelming the visitor.

Last year I had (among other things) embedded my book trailers' YouTube code in The Maze's sidebar, and repeated that code on the books' dedicated pages. This year I have replaced the sidebar trailer embeds with the actual book covers. Although all my trailers are well worth watching and are especially impressive on big-screen TVs, since they are very similar to movie trailers, it's the cover that is an author's first, best chance of engaging a potential reader.

I also rearranged the order and elected to place my social media info and newsletter signup at the top of the sidebar, above my books. One of the things that turns me off when I visit an author's blog is to be inundated with book covers and buy links right from the start, so I've tried not to do that to The Maze's visitors.

Originally I had developed a dedicated page for listing my giveaways, but I found that it's easier to mention them on individual blog posts rather than to keep updating the Giveaway page. I still have that page saved as a draft if I ever decide to rearrange The Maze's "furniture" again. :)

Oh and speaking of giveaways, don't forget to scroll down and enter the vast, multi-author Rafflecopter giveaway that's running today!

Blog Elements

Individual blog elements are legion, but the basic necessities for an author blog include the display of book covers, buy links, and social media following opportunities.

I've already chimed in on the subject of book cover placement—again, the key is to disseminate the information without overwhelming the reader. Having the social media following opportunities placed in a prominent position is important too, because they are going to be more chances for you and your books to reach that magic "seven mentions" threshold for clinching the sale.

Displaying graphic elements for the various social media sites is a fine practice, but please, PLEASE do not code them to reappear on the screen like a cloud of hopeful puppies as the visitor pages down the post. That is just flat-out annoying, and I will leave your blog faster than you can blink, never to return.

Another turnoff for me is to be hit with a "sign up for this blog" popup immediately upon visiting the site. Even with blogs I visit on a fairly regular basis, I never subscribe to them—I'm drowning in emails as it is—so to be bombarded with a request when all I want to do is read one post is also annoying.

Wow. I didn't realize that I had so much to say about blog structure! In keeping with my recommendation to not overwhelm the visitor, I'm going to stop here and cover the various aspects of blog content next week.

So… stop wishing that you had a great author blog, and start doing it. :)

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— Follow Kim on Twitter
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Glass Slipper Sisters Promo Blitz #boxset multi-author #giveaway

Celebrating surviving the joust in Betrothal by @Jenna_Jaxon #MedievalMonday

I am delighted to welcome back author Jenna Jaxon and her novel Betrothal for today's Medieval Monday installment on The Maze.
 
Synopsis:
Lady Alyse de Courcy has fallen in love with Lord Braeton, a nobleman in King Edward III’s court and a man to whom she has barely spoken. Fate, however, has decreed her betrothal to his best friend, Sir Geoffrey Longford—a handsome and imposing knight, yet hardly the man she wants to wed.

When Sir Geoffrey is bound in betrothal by his father, he could not have expected the beautiful stranger to win his heart the moment they meet. But Alyse’s infatuation with his friend casts doubt on whether she can ever return his regard and their wedding day is fast approaching…  Will he have time enough to win her love?

Excerpt:
As the champions met at the end of the Great Hall, the trumpeters sounded the fanfare once again. Alyse flanked Princess Joanna as she stepped forward, Lady Carlyle on her other side. The gentlemen came forward to claim their ladies and lead them into the middle of the Hall. The musicians struck up a stately carole, and the three couples formed pairs, one following the other, creating a line that moved gradually around the Hall. She and Geoffrey were the center pair and slowly trailed behind the princess and her partner.

Acutely aware that this was their first dance together, Alyse found it almost impossible to keep her eyes forward as propriety demanded. She darted glances at Geoffrey as they moved through the deliberate steps, her blood singing with each glimpse of his elegant figure. Hand and hand—the heat they generated threatened to set her ablaze—they stepped to the slow beat, now forward, now backward, slowly making their way around the Great Hall. Again, the yearning overtook her to belong to this man utterly and intimately. To be his in every way possible before it was too late. But for the grace of God, tonight could have been too late. He could have been killed today, and she would never have known the joy of belonging to him completely.

She wanted to remember every moment of this dance, to be able to savor each one later, but the flickering light, the heat of the chamber, the intensity of the music and her own thundering heart worked to make the dance a swirl of impressions—riotous and fleeting. When the music ended, Alyse’s head still reeled.

Geoffrey turned smartly toward her and bowed low, and she curtsied in return. Then he took her hand and kissed it. Her breath came faster, and her heart thudded in her ears as a full flush of heat rose in her face. The touch of his lips on her skin fought like fire and ice: she first burned then trembled as chills raced through her body. She barely heard the thunderous applause and cheers of the assembly.

BUY LINKS

Amazon |

FREE ON THE FOLLOWING SITES:

Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | ARe |

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January jangling of The Dawnflier (Jan. 2016) and #giveaway!

12/27/2015 Rehoboth Beach, DE
(c) Kim Headlee.

Happy New Year! 

I'm beginning to feel snakebit. This is the second time in as many years that I've spent the Christmas holidays in lovely Rehoboth Beach, Delaware... only to get so sick that I couldn't enjoy the festivities nearly as much as I wanted to. 

The good news is that my most recent bout was set to rights with a trip to the local ER (on Christmas Day, thank you very much) for a bag of saline and the best anti-nausea meds on the planet. The weather was weirdly warm and rainy during most of my stay, though it did behave itself on the Sunday after Christmas, and I walked from the beach house where I was staying so that I could snap this lovely picture at twilight. I pretty near had to run before all the light disappeared, but even that felt good—and it felt even better to surprise my husband with my pace. :)

In book news:

I will be presenting my Business of Writing workshop at MarsCon (January 15-17, Williamsburg, VA). I don't have the final schedule yet, but please stay tuned here for updates, which will include other panels of which I'm a member.

My Twain sequel, King Arthur's Sister in Washington's Court, is now available as a gorgeous hardcover edition and is proving to be my most popular book to date! Drop a comment below if you're interested in learning how to purchase an autographed copy from me.

The regular features on The Maze, including Medieval Mondays and my weekly Business of Writing and Raging Sea excerpt posts, will resume on 1/4/2016. 

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy a wonderful start to this shiny new year! 

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All this month, you are invited to...
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... and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books. Please enter often, and good luck!